The Book of Terrus: A Land of Sunlight

Chapter 17 - Ripples in the Mirror

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The StormRider slid across the surface of Aryna Lake like a duck on a millpond; with scarcely a sound and only ever-widening rings of ripples in its wake. Lhara's twenty years contained precious little knowledge of sea-faring up to this point, but even the most seasoned crewmembers of the StormRider joined her at the ship's rail to marvel at the beauty of Blue Stone.

They had passed Syrion nearly three days ago. The famous Syrinese Baths had been somewhat underwhelming to Lhara, appearing to be little more than a series of cubby-like rock formations etched into the sides of the sandstone cliffs. Granted, the cliffs themselves were imposing, and a collection of canopies of red, yellow, and orange peeking through the dense green foliage up top added a spot of colour to Goran's western coastline. When Lhara had mentioned her disappointment to Reyson however, he simply chuckled and shook his head.

"The baths are meant to be an attraction for the sake of passers-by, Lhara. Their true worth is only for those wealthy patrons who can afford the gatekeepers' fee. Picture sitting in a natural hot-spring filled with the brightest blue-green water, a glass of chilled wine in hand and the sea stretching out below you as far as the eye can see. Especially at sundown, when minstrels play on the clifftop, there can be no better place in all Goran."

"You've been to the baths, then? In person?" asked Lhara, her curiosity piqued.

"Once or twice" was all Reyson would say before dropping the matter altogether. From what Lhara knew about the swordsman though, she gathered such a trip must have had something to do with Kiiss. No doubt, in happier times before the rebellion, the opulent ArtSeller must have frequented such a place.

The beauty of Blue Stone, on the other hand, was free for all to enjoy. Nestled twenty leagues inland by way of the broad Ramida River, the city sat fully-fronted upon the shores of Lake Aryna. Here, so much further north than the sun-drenched, white sand beaches of Utunma, there was a crispness to the wind, a sweetness to the morning mist that hinted at coming autumn. Lake Aryna sat cradled in a bowl of steep hills, so thickly carpeted in grasses and moss that the hillsides seemed to ripple like brushed velvet beneath the breeze. White fog encircled streamed like ribbons around the highest spires of the city rooftops, and Yidu told Lhara that she could see owls, circling Blue Stone in peaceful circles as they came home to roost for the day.

Blue Stone itself was to Lhara a curious mix between all she knew of Moaan, and her memories of home. The city sat largely upon a natural jetty of mossy rock, surrounded by docks tidily built from a collection of white wood and stones. Dozens of boats sat quietly at anchor, the day still too young yet for work to begin. One sailboat was setting sail onto the lake though, from what looked to be a private dock along the shore. Although Lhara couldn't make out the tiny figures on board, she saw the sail; a triangle of white against the grey-green hills.

Beyond the docks, the city proper made up for the lack of open land by stretching upward, its highest spires seemingly reaching up to touch the last of the fading morning stars. A castle with many smaller towers encircling it sat at the center of Blue Stone, and all around it the city grew outward in gradually shortening spirals, down to the ground-level buildings on the lake's waterfront. Everything seemed to be built from the same round, pale lake stones, with dark shingled roofs.

The true beauty of Blue Stone lay not above the water though, but beneath it. Leaning far over the rail of the StormRider, Lhara understood how the city had gotten its name.

So far inland up the Ramida River, the waters of Lake Aryna were so clear and calm, Lhara could see all the way to the bottom. The entire bottom of the lake was made up of large blue-grey stones, some silvery like frost, while others gleamed with the same impossible smoothness as the tunnel from Hollowtop Mountain. Drifting across the water, as clear and perfect as glass, the sensation of floating came to Lhara, and for a moment she wondered if the StormRider wasn't sailing in midair.